


Defeating Your Demons

by megupic



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Blood, Dark!Percy, Disturbing Themes, F/M, Inner Demons, POV First Person, PTSD, Post-Tartarus (Percy Jackson), Suicidal Thoughts, a little bit of percabeth fluff, or encouragement, there's a sweet moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6366367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megupic/pseuds/megupic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy can't sleep. He hasn't been able to get a good night's sleep since Tartarus and the end of the war with Gaea. In a desperate attempt to get rid of the nightmares, Percy figures going to the Hypnos cabin will help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defeating Your Demons

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at fanfiction in many years. I decided that I really wanted to address Percy’s PTSD that I wanted more of in Blood of Olympus, plus some unresolved issues.

“ANNABETH!” I screamed, bolting upright in bed. I wildly looked around, trying to figure out where I was. The sound of a running fountain was the first thing I noticed. I looked over and attached to the wall was the salt water fountain Dad had given me for my birthday several years ago. Outside of the cabin, the distant sound of ocean waves lapping up onto the shore sounded and I let out a breath, relaxing. I was back at Camp Half Blood, safe, in the Poseidon cabin.

I was cold and drenched with sweat and my hair was plastered to my face and the back of my neck. I drew up my knees to my chest and forced myself to breathe slowly. The nightmares were still coming, even though it had been several weeks since Annabeth and I had come back from Tartarus and fought in the war against Gaea. It was almost time to go back to school, to go back home to Mom and Paul.

I shuddered. I didn’t want my parents seeing me like this. I had already worried them half to death after they thought I was dead when Hera kidnapped me, and even after I got my memories back I had gone straight onto another quest. How long had it been? A year, a little more than that, since I’d seen my parents? It’d been way too long, but I couldn’t go back and cause even more stress and worry by acting this way. There had to be a way to get rid of these nightmares.

Nightmares…

The idea hit me like Mrs. O'Leary when I offered her an extra large bag of hellhound treats the other day. I jumped out of my bunk, got up, pulled on a pair of shorts and the closest t-shirt that happened to be hanging off the side of my bunk. I slid my flip-flops on and quietly slipped out of the cabin.

I know, I know, I’m not supposed to sneak out at night, but hey, I’d done it before and the harpies hadn’t eaten me then. But just to be safe, I concentrated and felt the familiar tug in my gut. A heavy fog started to roll over the camp, coming from the ocean, and soon the entire camp was covered. I could hardly see five feet in front of me, but that was fine. I knew Camp Half Blood like the back of my own hand. The idea of bringing Annabeth along crossed my mind, but then I shook it out. The fog wouldn’t last long and it would be tough to break into the Athena cabin and not wake up all of her siblings. Who knew what kind of security system they had set up? With a bunch of genius architects and thinkers like the Athena kids, I didn’t want to try to think about what nasty things could be waiting for me. I probably had better luck breaking into the Ares cabin. Besides, Annabeth needed the sleep. If my idea worked, then I would tell her and help her with her nightmares and nights of insomnia too. But for now, I wanted to try this out and see if it actually worked.

The fog already was starting to thin. I hurried towards Cabin 15.

I made it just as the fog was disappearing. Carefully, I turned the knob of the door with the red poppy wreath hanging on it and silently stole inside.

As soon as I was inside , I realized I hadn’t thought this all the way through. He almost passed out just from entering. The air was warm, the fireplace had died down to a low, warm glow. The ever-present invisible violins were softly playing and the Lethe water dripping rythmically into the tin bowls added to the hypnotizing sound.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I couldn’t pass out here on the floor, not when I had a job to do. I made my way further into the cabin slowly, looking over the bunks, full of snoring kids wrapped up in fluffy blankets.There was one blond head in particular…there. In the corner, Clovis’ blond curls were the only thing that was visible of the demigod buried under a mound of blankets. I tiptoed around the bed and knelt down next to it and reached out a hand to shake Clovis’ shoulder.

“Clovis!” I whispered. “Clovis, wake up!”

Clovis didn’t budge and I sighed. It was nearly impossible to wake Clovis up, but I didn’t want to wake up the others and end up getting busted… Then again, these were Hypnos’ kids in their own cabin. It would probably take another war just to force the entire cabin awake. Feeling a little better about my plan, I leaned close to Clovis and then yelled, “CLOVIS THE PANCAKES ARE RUNNING OUT!”

I tensed, biting my bottom lip, waiting for any of the other campers to wake up. Thankfully, no one budged. Clovis, on the other hand, had opened his eyes lazily and was gazing up at me.

“Percy? Are the blueberry muffins gone already?” he murmured.

“No, Clovis, I just needed to wake you up. It’s the middle of the night, and I need your help.”

Clovis groaned. “Can’t it wait until morning?”

“No, it can’t, so stay with me buddy. I need your help with getting rid of some nightmares.”

“What sort of nightmares?”

I wish he hadn’t asked that. Memories of demons grinning down at me, a deep gutteral laugh, the burn of lava sliding down my throat, a pitch black palace filled my head. I could feel the panic rising up, up to the top, pressing against my chest like they were trying to crawl their way through my chest– I shook my head and forced the memories down.

“Some pretty bad ones. Ever since I got back from Tartarus…well I can’t sleep for more than a few hours and even then I feel exhausted. Please, Clovis.”

At the mention of Tartarus, Clovis seemed to perk up–well, more than usual. He wasn’t trying to fall back to sleep right now, which was a good thing.

“Okay,” he said, “I can think of one thing that I can try, but I have to warn you, I’m not sure if it’ll work. It’ll be up to you for the most part.”

“I’m willing to give anything a try.”

Clovis nodded and climbed out of bed. “Go lay down on one of the spare beds.”

I obeyed his instructions and lay down on one of the extra beds. The soft mattress and feather pillows almost swallowed me whole. I had to remember to try to get one of these in the Poseidon cabin.

“Okay,” Clovis said, standing over me, “I can lead you to a dreamscape that will allow you to confront whatever is the source of these nightmares. Again, not completely sure if it’ll work and you’ll have to do most of the work once you’re there…”

“It’s worth a shot. Thanks, Clovis.”

“Sure, dude. Now close your eyes.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the camp arena. It was full of demigods practicing their fighting skills. Off to the side sitting in the bleachers were several Aphrodite kids doing each other’s hair and gossipping, others were checking out some of the demigods–probably prowling for potential dates. One of Annabeth’s siblings was up at the top, book on their lap. Outside of the arena I could see and hear the camp bustling with satyrs and demigods. A typical day at camp, but still, it didn’t quite feel the same. This had to be the dreamscape Clovis was talking about.

I turned around in a circle, surveying the arena. If I was supposed to find the root of all of my nightmares, why was I in the arena, and not say, Tartarus? Not that I was complaining. I never wanted to go back there, even in a dream.

I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do, but maybe it was like some of the video games I played with Jason. I reached into my pocket and uncapped Riptide, unsheathing the familiar bronze blade.

Nothing happened. Everything carried on.

I shrugged. Okay fine, my dreams weren’t exactly like a video game, which kind of sucked, but it was worth a try.

“Hey Percy!” I turned around to see Piper waving at me from the group of Aphrodite kids. “C'mere!”

In a few seconds I was up on the bleachers, standing in front of the group. “Yeah, Piper?”

“I was looking into Kaptoptris just now and I saw something really weird. Would you look into it and see if you see the same thing?”

I suddenly felt cold. Whatever Piper was seeing, it couldn’t have been good. Everything she saw in that dagger always predicted death or danger. “Uh…yeah, I could do that for you.”

She handed me the bronze dagger and I tilted it up, looking straight into it. All I saw was my reflection: my messy bed head, my green eyes, the bags under my eyes from lack of sleep.

“Piper, maybe it just works for you, I don’t–”

Just then my reflection blinked and grinned at me, his eyes turning entirely dark red. I screamed and dropped the knife, trying to back up, but the bleachers caught my ankle and sent me falling backwards down all the way to the ground. The Aphrodite kids laughed above me and I groaned, laying there, dazed.

 _You would think that a fall like that would hurt less than a fall from the top St. Louis Arch or a fall into Tartarus_ , I thought. Or at least, I thought I thought it…it sounded like me…but aloud. I slowly looked up and saw me.

I shook my head and blinked. “Wow, I must have really hit my head hard…”

“You can’t get brain damage in a dream, Perce,” I heard my double say. That was so weird, hearing something in my voice when I didn’t say it. It was like running into a Cyclops. I pushed myself up onto my feet, standing right in front of the other me. We looked identical, except for our clothes. I was wearing my orange camp shirt and basketball shorts. He was my camp shirt too, but his was ripped and eroded from what looked like acid and was stained with dirt, sweat, and blood. The logo looked a little darker, sketched. Something wasn’t right with it. His jeans were in a similar state and he wore my ragged tennis shoes that desperately needed to be replaced. Basically, he looked exactly how I looked like back in…

I forced the thought down and kept looking. We had the same messy black hair, his was a little longer and shaggier, we same scars…then I met his eyes. His eyes were different. First, he didn’t have bags under his eyes. He looked perfectly rested, perfectly awake and comfortable in his own skin. Second, his eyes were a deep, blood red instead of bright green like mine were and he didn’t have whites to his eyes or pupils. It was all just…red.

“What a weird feeling, right?” the other me said, grinning. Without thinking about it, I took a step back.

“Yeah…weird.” My hand went to my pocket, where Riptide had returned from when it had flown out of my hand when I fell down the bleachers. My double’s eyes traveled down to my hand and his grin just widened.

“You planning on fighting me, Perce? When I haven’t done anything?”

“Who are you?”

I was pretty sure he rolled his eyes. It was difficult when his eyes were only one color. “You, Seaweed Brain.” I grit my teeth. It sounded wrong coming from him.

“You’re not me.”

“Oh, but I am,” he assured me. “I look like you, sound like you, and hey look at this!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ballpoint pen. He uncapped it and Riptide emerged. It was exactly the same. “I even have your sword.”

“Why are you here?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “Same reason you are? This is your head, Perce. I live here.”

I pressed my lips together, hand tightening on Riptide. This guy was seriously getting on my nerves.

“Hey dude, don’t get angry at me.” The other me held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “Out of all the people you should be angry at, I’m the last person you should be looking to pick a fight with.”

“Oh yeah?” I challenged. “And who should I be mad at, exactly?”

“Funny you should ask,” he said with a smirk. He raised his free hand and snapped and all of a sudden, the day turned to night, the stands were filled with cheering demigods, satyrs, and nymphs; but when I looked more closely, they all had red eyes like the other me.

I turned to look back at my other self, but he was gone. I quickly scanned the arena and found him up at the top, sitting in the Emperor’s Box. He was wearing Greek battle armor now. The guy really was going all out.

“Let’s get this started, shall we!?” he roared and the crowd roared back, calling for blood.

The arena’s double doors opened and out of the shadows, a man walked out. When they stepped into the torch light, my legs felt like they were made of JELL-O.  
“Jason?”

“Ever wondered who would actually win, Perce?” my darker double called down to me. “Well congrats! You get to find that out now!”

Jason looked exactly the same as usual: purple SPQR shirt, tattoo, the scar on his lip, blonde hair, glasses…but behind his glasses, his eyes were red. He didn’t waste any time either. A bell sounded somewhere, like in the wrestling matches, and Jason flew at me. I mean, he literally pushed himself through the air to go faster. He flipped his golden coin and it transformed into his sword and slashed at me.

I barely had enough time to block his attack and counter before he had the opportunity to turn me into a Percy-kabob. We exchanged blows so quick even I had trouble seeing them. Just fighting with swords wasn’t going to work.

He must have been thinking the same thing because just then Jason launched into the air and starting flying around me Flash-style. The air around me started getting thinner, this wasn’t good. He was going to suffocate me.

Feeling the familiar tug in my gut, I focused on all of the water in the air, in the ground, and focused it into Jason’s tornado, using the wind to create my own personal hurricane like I had during the battle against the Titan Hyperion and with Jason on the Argo II. My head was starting to get really light. I looked up and watched as Jason fought against the water, but then flew out of the tornado and crashed to the ground. He had lost control of it. I grinned and focused the hurricane towards Jason.

He picked himself up, flipped his sword, and it transformed mid-air and turned into his spear. He raised it to the sky and thunder rumbled ominously. Storm clouds gathered in the night sky, blocking out the moon and stars. If my hurricane wasn’t raging, I probably would have felt electricity in the air.

There was a flash of lightning and the ground next to me exploded, raining mud all over me. My pulse quickened. If Jason had been able to see, he probably would have barbecued me. I had to end this.

I focused the wind and water making up my hurricane and hurled it all in Jason’s direction as a giant wave. It rose as high as the arena walls and crashed down, creating massive waves that washed over the crowd and up over the arena’s walls.

As the water slowly drained out and the air cleared, I searched for Jason. The shadows in the arena were long and the torches could only light so much.

There was a movement to my left and I whirled around, but no one was there. Where was Jason?

The answer came as I felt a flare of pain in my lower back, right where my Mark of Achilles used to be. I looked down and saw a bloody golden sword sticking out of my gut. I sank to my knees and Jason pulled his sword out of my gut. The pain was so excruciating I tried to scream, but it only came out as a strangled gasp.

“Looks like we have the answer to that,” I heard my–no, his voice come from the Box. “I guess Jason is the better one of you two. After all, he is Jupiter’s kid. He’s a properly trained soldier, has been since he was little. He has much more experience than you. There’s a reason why Jupiter’s the King of the gods and not Poseidon. We should have seen it coming.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and grit my teeth, wanting to just make the other me shut up already. Just because he was saying everything that was true didn’t mean I wanted to hear it.

“Well, listen to me going on and on,” he continued, “I can see you really want to move on…or that’s just your bleeding out face.” I heard another snap and suddenly all of the flames on the torches ringing the arena burst and flamed up nearly ten feet. I felt sweat trickle down the back of my neck and my back.

“ _Hola,_ _mi amigo_ ,” a voice whispered venomously in my ear. I slowly turned my head in horror, catching a glimpse of the soot-stained face of Leo Valdez right over my shoulder. I felt the sword in my gut twist and I screamed. Leo’s eyes were burning murderously–and I mean that literal flames were in his eyes, just like Ares’ eyes.

“Leo, I–” my voice came out strangled. The sword in my gut was yanked out and I dropped to the ground, feeling my blood, hot and sticky, pool out from under me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Leo gripping the bloody golden sword in his hands, flames starting to curl around the blade.

“It’s your fault I’m dead! You let me die in that raging inferno!”

“Leo… I can explain…”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” He threw the sword to the ground and thrust his hands in front of him. A wall of flame flew at me. I barely had time to roll out of the way before I burned to a crisp. For some reason, it didn’t hurt. I glanced down at my gut. It was bloody, but the bleeding had stopped. The only logic that went along with that was the fact that this was a dream. If it wasn’t, I had probably died soon after Jason impaled me.

Okay, now that I wasn’t dying, I focused on Leo in front of me. I had to put out the fire. Maybe if I cooled him down we could talk and I could explain.

Leo launched volley after volley at me, the flames barely missing me each time by a hair’s breadth, the whole time screaming at me, “You never live up to your promises, Percy! You left Calypso on Ogygia! You let me go up by myself to defeat Gaia and I DIED! Where’s that great hero Percy Jackson no one will shut up about!? You’re a coward and a liar Percy! You filthy _mentiroso_!”

I rolled away from another wall of flames. He wasn’t giving me any time to pull water out of the air or the ground–if there was any left. The heat was steadily going up as the flames now ringing the Colosseum grew higher and higher. Water…I needed water…

“Leo I didn’t want to let you go!” I cried back, feeling my gut twist, but not in a powerful kind of way. It was the same gut wrenching feeling I felt once I saw the explosion that defeated Gaia, the same gut wrenching feeling I felt when I saw Beckendorf go up in flames on the Princess Andromeda. I could still feel the heat from the blast, waking up under water, hearing from Tyson that the ship hadn’t made it…

I shook my head. Focus. As annoying as Leo could be at times, most of the time actually, I had thought we were finally starting to become friends back during our fight against Nike.

“Then why didn’t you come with me!? You, the great Percy Jackson, could have handled everything, right!? Why’d you let me die!?” He yelled a slew of words in Ancient Greek and Spanish which I only understood half of. I flinched, feeling the sting of Jason’s sword going through me with every one.

“I’m sorry Leo!” I sobbed. “I’m so sorry!” At this point, I couldn’t keep dodging the flames. I dropped to my knees, sobbing and shaking. Riptide fell out of my hand and fell against the baked earth with a dull thud.

A pair of footsteps kicked through the dirt and dust, coming to a stop right before me.

“Wow, look the mighty Percy Jackson now, reduced to a blubbering mess. Oh how the mighty have fallen.” I snapped my head up to see Dark Me smirking down at me, his red eyes practically glowing. The flames had died down and the heat had disappeared. Once again, the arena was dark and shadows were dancing around the edges like demons in Tartarus.

“Shut up,” I groaned, slowly pushing myself back onto my feet.

“Are you seriously still going to try to fight, Jackson? Aren’t you tired?”

“This is a dream, I can’t get tired.”

“Oh, but you look tired,” Dark Me started flipping the pen version of Riptide in his fingers, twirling and flipping like it was a baton the color guard would throw up in the air during parades. “Why don’t you just give in? Wake up and keep living your life.”

I scoffed. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I came here for one reason and that’s to get rid of you.”

It was his turn to laugh. “I’m sorry to tell you about this, Perce, but you can’t get rid of me. I am you.” Saying those three words, his red eyes really did glow this time, sending chills down my spine. Yeah, I’ll admit it. This guy gave me the creeps.

I shook my head. “No, you’re not. I am not you.”

“Wanna bet?” he challenged.

“You’re on, Blood Eyes.”

He laughed and uncapped his Riptide. “Good one.” Then he lunged at me. I blocked him and attacked, but he used the exact same block as I had before. We exchanged blows, thrusts, parries, blocks–but everything was identical.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. How was I supposed to beat a guy with the exact same moves as me?

“You’re going to have to try harder than that, Perce!” he yelled, slashing at me. I jumped back, narrowly avoiding the blade. Okay, I had to be like Annabeth here and think. If we had the same exact sword tactics, then maybe I could beat him with water. This was my dreamscape after all.

I drew a deep breath, gripped my sword, then turned and high-tailed it out of there.

“Where are you goin’, Jackson!?” I heard Dark Me yell after me.

I ignored him and ran; I ran past the cabins, the mess hall, and finally I could see the sea. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the other me hot on my heels, wearing an all too familiar grin–the grin all of the monsters in Tartarus had worn when they had been chasing me and Annabeth.

I ran faster and soon splashed into the surf, wading in until I was waist deep.

My double stopped on the beach, just barely getting his shoes wet. “Smart,” he called. “Then again, I figured you would look for the ocean. We’re both more powerful here.”

“Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is!” I called back to him, pulling in the ocean’s waves, creating a 20 foot tall tidal wave. With all of my strength, I threw it in his direction, watching it loom over the beach and then descend.

“Too slow, Perce,” I heard the whisper in my ear and a chill was sent through my spine. I spun around and saw my darker self standing where I had been, smirking at me. The 20 foot tidal wave all came crashing down and it threw us both deeper into the ocean. The water washed over my head and I was sent spinning. It took me a second to reassert control and stop myself. I turned around, squinting through the water. I couldn’t see him. I kicked back up to the surface and came face to face with a pair of torn and bloody sneakers. I looked up to see my double standing on the water, still wearing that infuriating smirk.

“Is that all you got?” he asked. I glared at him and brought my hands up on top of the water and pushed myself up onto the surface so I was also standing on the ocean’s waves.  
“I’m just getting started,” I replied, waving my arms to throw more waves at him. The water washed over him, but they fell on nothing. I stared at the empty spot in shock and then felt a kick to my back and was sent flying forward across the water. My body slapped the water and it sent all the air out of my lungs. Falling onto the water felt like slamming into concrete.

“Give up, Percy,” I heard him say, leisurely making his way toward me. “I’m much stronger than you. Splashing me with waves will do nothing.”

I felt all the blood rush to my head and I screamed out, hurling all the water around me at him.

“You’re not powerful enough,” he continued, appearing at my shoulder. He pulled back his arm and the next thing I knew I was hurtling back, skipping across the water like a stone.

“This is why Leo died,” his voice came from below and I felt a solid fist thrust into my gut. I tried to scream but no sound came out.

“No wonder Jason’s more powerful than you,” he taunted, kicking me in the head and sending me heels over head into the unforgiving, cold, salty waves. I shakily pulled myself back out, head spinning.

“Remember how powerful you used to be?!?” I felt something snap. That was it. I felt the tug in my gut and tried to summon all the water to me to create another hurricane, a tsunami, anything to bury this creep way below the ocean floor.

But nothing happened. I couldn’t even move. I tried again. Nothing.

“What..?”

“Look at me, Percy.” A weird feeling came over me–like my blood started straining to get out my body.

I felt my body move against my will and I turned around to face him, jerking clumsily like a puppet. My body was on fire. I let out a cry of pain.

“This is the power you have but just refuse to use,” Dark Me said, wearing a demented smile. “Remember Akhlys? Remember the pleasure you felt drowning her in her own poison and bodily fluids? Now that was power!”

“I…I didn’t–”

“You can’t lie to me, Perce. Remember, I’m you. I remember how much you loved watching the goddess drown. After all, she had threatened both you and Annabeth, right? It was all in self defense. It was all for Annabeth, right? To keep her safe?”

“Yes–no–I–”

His fingers twitched and I felt hot tears run down my face, I tried to take a deep breath but choked. Water was flowing up my throat and spilling out of my nose and mouth. White hot panic surged through me. This was how it was like for Akhlys. This was what it was like to drown in your own body.

Dark Me continued to lecture, “Remember what a great leader you were in Manhattan when fighting Kronos? That inspirational speech you gave to protect the camp and inspire the forces? You were protecting Annabeth then too.” He shook his head at me and closed the distance between us, stopping only inches in front of me. “Now you’re pitiful and pathetic. You’re not an adequate leader anymore, I mean come on, "Let’s, um, fight stuff?” What kind of speech was that? And the fact that you started the end of the world because of a nosebleed? Pathetic. What kind of hero gets hit in the nose once and does that? You deserved to choke on that poison at the bottom of the ocean. You didn’t kill Akhlys even though she deserved it and then you were paid the price anyway! So many have died in your place when you should have died long ago. You’re no hero, Percy Jackson.“

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see. Warm fluids continued to choke me and blind me. I dropped to my knees, my vision starting to turn black.  
He snapped and a salty wall of ocean water slammed into me from above and pushed me down below the surface, sending me rocketing down into the dark depths.  
As I sank down below the waves, I stared up at the surface, at the light that was slowly disappearing. He was right, I was weaker. I didn’t deserve to protect Annabeth, protect the camp, when I let so many others die in my place…Beckendorf, Luke, Leo…

I closed my eyes.

Join with me, Percy, and all this can end.. He coaxed. I opened my eyes again and found him centimeters away from my face, floating above me in the water. I stared into his blood-red eyes, saw the cruel curl of his lips. Did I look like this in Tartarus? Was this really me?

 _Don’t give up on me that easily, Seaweed Brain!_ a new voice came into my head, Annabeth’s voice.

 _I’m not a hero, Annabeth…_ I replied silently.

_Are you seriously trying to sell that to me? Because I’m nowhere near buying it! You’re my hero, Percy. You led us in Manhattan and you did all you could do as a leader._

_But Leo died–-_

_Leo died a hero, you know that. He stopped Gaea and we won because of him. Giving in is just disrespecting his memory._

_But I’m not strong…_

_You are. You are the Son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three. Genetically, that makes you powerful, but your heart is even stronger than that._

_But compared to Jason–-_

_Jason can go suck an egg! The fight you two had in Kansas, the teamwork you two did in Europe, you complement each other. You’re bros, right?_

Even as she said it I could see her rolling her eyes while using the term.

_Thinking of what if’s and maybe’s aren’t going to do you any good, Percy._

_I don’t know, Wise Girl…I can’t even bring myself to use the abilities the other me uses…the powerful ones…_

_Percy, you’re stronger than him. You don’t need to lower yourself to his level. He uses tricks like those because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. You care about me, you care about your friends. You don’t need tricks like those._

_I_ _don’t know, he kicked my butt pretty easily…_

_Hey! I’m not giving up on you! Besides, I can’t do anything here, you have to save yourself and I expect you to eat breakfast with me. If you’re late, you’re gonna get an earful. Now kick his butt because even if you don’t matter to him, you matter to me._

A warm sensation filled me, like I had just downed a whole mug of ambrosia. Annabeth was right. I was strong and even if I didn’t have a high opinion of myself, she did and I had to be there for her. We needed each other.

I grinned and Dark Me’s grin faded, his brow furrowed in confusion. That was right before I brought up my leg and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him shooting up to the surface. I was right behind him.

The surface of the ocean exploded, I stood in the middle of a tempest, wind whipping wildly with the waves tossing to and fro. I brought my right arm up in an arc and slashed it down. A large wave wrapped around Dark Me and I did it again with the other arm. My double struggled and fought, but he had no chance against me and was soon trapped in a water sphere. I uncapped Riptide and approached the sphere, meeting the angry red eyes.

"I don’t need you,” I told him, bringing Riptide back and stabbing into the sphere. My sword stabbed cleanly through him and he started to disintegrate like all the other monsters in Tartarus. I collapsed the sphere and the ashes sank into the water.

“Good riddance,” I said, capping my sword again.

 

I gasped and my eyes flew open, flying up into a sitting position. I looked around wildly. I was sitting in the middle of a bed. The only sounds were the hypnotic dripping of lethe water into a pan and fire crackling in the fireplace. Several campers were wrapped up in blankets and buried with their heads in the pillows, the light was soft and warm. I was back in the Hypnos cabin.

“Clovis?” I turned and found him snoring softly in the plush chair next to my bed. I smiled and slowly edged off of the bed. “Thanks man,” I said quietly. I crossed the cabin and quietly slipped out.

Dawn was breaking and a few campers were outside already. I took a deep breath, breathing in the sweet, cool morning air. For once, I felt fully rested. I grinned and hurried off to the Athena cabin to wake up Annabeth. I couldn’t wait for her to try this.


End file.
